Rotary display device and operating means therefor



Dee 1936- c. c. GILMAN I 2,063,599 ROTARY DISPLAY DEVICE AND OPERATING MEANS THEREFOR Filed 001;. 7, 1935 NCE C GIL MAN INVENTOR.

BY a 20 Patented Dec. 8, 1936 UNITED STATES P'ATE-T OFFICE ROTARY DISPLAY DEVICE AND OPERATING MEANS THEREFOR 11 Claims.

This invention relates toa mechanical means for imparting an intermittent step-by-step advancing movement to a progressively movable rotatable member.

The invention may be embodied in a great many different mechanical constructions. Its operation may be controlled by a clockwork or it may be governed in its action by other mechanical means. Inthe illustrated embodiment of the invention it is shown applied to an advertising clock,

to exemplify one of the many uses to which it may be applied.

Among the objects of the invention are: To provide a device of the kindstated wherein gravity will be utilized to repeatedly move a part so as to strike another part with the same force and speed thus imparting a measured step-by-step advancement to the latter part; to provide improved means for preventing over-rotation when a rotary part is moved forward step-by-step by. mechanism constructed according to the prin ciples of the invention; to provide a very simple device of its kind wherein the assembled parts are not apt to get out of, order; to construct the device in such a manner that when it is used to display pictures or advertising matter old matter on display may be veryreadily removed and replaced by new, and to improve upon various mechanical details and features of construction as will hereinafter. appear.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention will hereinafter appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates what is at present deemed to be one of the preferred. embodiments of the invention,

Fig.1, is a vertical, sectional view wherein a fragment of the casing of an advertising or display device is shown and the drum which carries thematter to be displayed is sectioned at a right angletoI its axis. This view shows, in side elevation, the motor and other mechanism whereby a step-by-step rotation is imparted to said drum.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the rotary motor driven lifting bar, airagment of the member upon which itacts being included in view.

Fig.3 isa perspective view of one of the guide members.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a part of the means for preventing over-rotation of the. drum .which carries the matter to be displayed.

Fig. 5 is aperspective view showing one of the ratchetdevices or trips on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 6 is a. side elevation of the drum shown in Fig; 1v together with its bearings, the supporting means being shown in section,

Referring in detail to the drawing, the invention, as illustrated, is utilized to impart a stepby-step rotation to a drum or rotary frame In, the driving power being furnished by a motor ll. Said drum has a hexagonal rim portion [2 at one end and a similar rim portion 13 at the opposite end. Bars i4 extend diametrically acrossthese rim portions and have hub portions [5, a shaft I 6 extending thru these hub portions to rotatably support the drum. Said shaft is shown having its end portions journalled in bearings l1 secured to the frame members l8.

At six equally spaced intervals the outer-face of the rim portion I3 is furnished with teeth whereby it is rotated, in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, said teeth consisting of outwardly projecting pins 20. Two of these pins are carried by the adjacent diametrical bar 14 near its extremities, and the other four. of said pins are carried by inwardly directed radial extensions 2| with which the rim I3 is furnished.

The pins 20 are shown screwed into the rim 2!] and held in place by lock nuts 23. The drum I0 is furnished with peripheral, longitudinally extending plates 24 which carry the matter to be displayed.

A vertically reciprocating striker bar 25 is fur-. nished at its lower end with agravity controlled striker pawl 26 which acts successively upon the pins 20 to impart a measured step-by-step rotation to the drum IE1. Said striker pawl is shown in detail in Fig. 5 where it will be seen that itis pivotally attached at 21 to a foot piece 28 secured to the bar 25, a stop pin 29 serving to arrest the downward gravitation of the pawl. has a convex contact edge or nose 30 and a concave striker edge or face 3|.

Overrotation of drum II] is prevented by a horizontally extending arresting arm 33 which, at one end is pivotaly connected at 34 with an upstanding arm 35 carried by a bracket 36 secured to the wall 31. The free end of said arm has a downwardly directed notch 38 to engage pins 20 and a beveled nose 39 in advance of said notch. A guard plate or pawl 40 is pivoted at 4| to arm 33, said pawl having a pin-engaging lower edge portion 40a and astop lip or nose 42, and having at its upper edge a wing 43 which has a combined guiding and stop function. The movements of arm 33 are directed by a slotted guide arm Mi carried by the bracket 36. Also bracket 36 has a slot 45 (see Fig. 3) to form a lower guide for striker bar 25, an L-shaped slotted upper bracket 48 being secured to wall 31 to form an upper guide for said bar.v The Said pawl base of slot 44s of arm 44 (see Fig. 3) forms a stop and support for arm 33. The striker bar 25 has fixed to its lower end portion an upwardly directed inclined arm 25a having an upstanding end flange 25:13 which is arranged to engage and lift arresting arm 33 at the proper times. Guide 48 has a leaf spring 49 mounted upon its upper side, said spring having a free end portion which cooperates with a pin 56 carried by the bar to cushion the impact of the striker pawl 26 against the pins 20. Screw 5| regulates the tension of spring 49.

The striker bar 25 has fixed to it a laterally extending operating arm 53 desirably of the L- shaped character shown in Fig. 2. With this arm cooperates the rotary driving bar 54 which at its mid-length is fixed to the shaft 55 of the electric motor H. Each end of bar 54 has a laterally extending operating part, desirably a finger 56 which is gyrated by the motor shaft 55 and which intermittently engages and disengages said arm 53 to lift and release the striker bar 25.

The motor II is shown secured to the wall I8 and is supplied with current from the line wires 6| and 62.

In operation, the motor I I having been started, the bar 54 fixed to its shaft, will begin to rotate thereby imparting a gyratory movement to the parts or fingers 56 carried by the end portions of said bar. In Fig. 1 one of said fingers is shown engaging the lower side of arm 53 and beginning to lift the striker bar 25. At this time the arresting arm 33 is in its down position wherein its notch 38 engages one of the pins 26 (teeth) of the rotary drum thereby temporarily locking said drum against rotation. The pawl 26 of the striker bar will tilt as indicated in dotted lines to permit it to clear the pin 20 thereabove as the striker bar rises.

As bar 54 continues to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrows, arm 53 and striker bar 25 will be raised until arm 25a. of said bar engages arresting arm 33 and lifts it to the dotted line position of Fig. 1. In the beginning of the upward movement of said. arm the nose 42 of its guard plate or pawl 40 will readily glide over whichever. of the pins 20 is uppermost, the pawl tilting to allow this to occur. When said arresting arm reaches its uppermost position, the finger 56 in engagement with arm 53 and then approaching its uppermost position, will clear said arm thus permitting the striker bar 25 and parts carried thereby to gravitate suddenly downward. This movement of the striker will remove the supporting means from under the arresting arm 33 thus permitting said arm to fall so quickly that its pin-engaging lower edge portion 40a. will contact with the uppermost pin 20 of the rotary drum before the pawl 26 at the lower end of the striker bar starts to rotate the drum by encountering the next pin to the left as the device is viewed in Fig. 1.

While a pin 20 is holding pawl 40 in its tilted position its nose 42 is depressed thus cooperating with notch 38 to form a mouth positioned to positively arrest the next tooth 26 to strike thereagainst. The advance movement of the rotary drum caused by the impact of the striker bar takes place so quickly that gravity will not have time to lift the nose of pawl 40 before it is encountered by the next tooth 26. The contour of the lower edge portion 40a of the pawl 46 is such as to afford a cam action that causes the nose of said pawl to be tilted downwardly as a pin 20 passes under said pawl. The imp lse t us given to the pawl each time a said tooth passes thereunder delays the action of gravity in restoring the counterbalanced pawl 46 to its normal position.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the subject matter claimed.

I claim:

1. The combination, with a rotary member provided with teeth spaced circumferentially in relation to its axis of rotation, said rotary member having segmental portions carrying matter to be displayed; of a vertically reciprocatory striker member which derives its force of impact from impetus derived from a free fall engendered by gravity, said striker member carrying a pawl which forcibly strikes said teeth when said striker member freely gravitates downwardly through a predetermined fall, and which is adapted to glide freely over said teeth when said striker member rises, and means to intermittently raise said striker member against gravity and then release it to drop by gravity to impart a step by step rotation to said rotary member.

2. In a device of the kind described, an upstanding vertically reciprocatory striker bar having a laterally extending operating arm, means to guide said bar during its reciprocation, and operating means to intermittently lift and release said bar, said operating means including a rotary member having a finger or extension which gyrates about its center of rotation and alternately engages and slides off from the under side of said arm.

3. In a device of the kind described, an upstanding vertically reciprocatory striker bar having a laterally extending operating arm, means to guide said bar during its reciprocation, a gyratory part to intermittently engage and disengage said arm to lift and release said striker bar, and means to gyrate said part.

4. In a device of the kind described, an upstanding vertically reciprocatory striker bar having a laterally extending operating arm, means to guide said bar during its reciprocation, and a rotatable operating bar to intermittently lift and release said striker bar, said operating bar having its axis of rotation located between its ends and having at each side of said axis a finger or extension which alternately engages and slides off from the under side of said operating arm.

5. The subject matter of claim 4 and, the fingers of said rotatable operating bar extending laterally therefrom and being located adjacent to its extremities.

6. In a device of the kind described a rotatable display drum having a skeletal end frame with a rim portion and a diametrical bar extending across said rim portion to support the same during rotation, there being a tooth which projects from said bar near each end thereof, and said rim having extensions directed radially inward and each furnished with a tooth to supplement the teeth on said bar, and means to intermittently engage said teeth to impart a progressive step by step rotation to said drum.

7. The combination, with a rotary member provided with teeth spaced circumferentially in relation to its axis of rotation, said rotary member having segmental portions carrying matter to be displayed; of a reciprocatory striker member which derives its impact from gravity, said striker member carrying a pawl which forcibly strikes said teeth when said striker member gravitates downwardly, and which is adapted to glide freely over said teeth when said striker member rises, means to intermittently raise said striker member against gravity and then release it to fall and impart a step-by-step rotation to said rotary member, and a swingable arresting arm to prevent over-rotation of said rotary member, said arresting arm normally engaging said rotary meniber to positively hold it against rotation, and said striker bar carrying a part which is positioned to engage and release said arresting bar to permit the striker bar to act upon and rotationally advance said rotary member.

8. The subject matter of claim 7 and, said rotary member being provided with teeth and said arresting arm having anotch and a pawl adjacent to said notch, said pawl and notch cooperating with the teeth of said rotary member in the performance of the aforesaid arresting function.

9. In a device of the kind described, the combination, with an upstanding vertically reciprocatory striker bar and guide means therefor; of a support adjacent to said bar, a leaf spring secured to said support, said spring having a free end portion adjacent to said bar, and a part carried by said bar to engage said spring and thereby cushion the striking action of said bar.

10. In a device of the kind described, an up standing striker bar carrying a gravity controlled striker pawl, means to support and guide said bar, a rotary member having teeth with which said pawl cooperates to rotate said member in a step by step manner, a swingable gravity impelled arm pivotally supported at one end and being provided at its opposite end with means to be encountered individually by the teeth of said rotary member to control its rotation, means to intermittently raise and release said striker bar to cause the striker pawl carried thereby to strike against successive individual teeth of said rotary member and thereby rotationally advance said member the distance between adjacent teeth thereof, and means carried by said striker bar to alternately raise and release said swingable arm, the operation of said striker bar and of said swingable arm being timed to permit said swingable arm to gravitate into a controlling contact with said rotary member before said striker pawl begins to rotationally advance said rotary member.

11. In a device of the kind described an upstanding striker bar carrying a gravity controlled striker pawl, means to support and guide said bar, a rotary member having teeth with which said pawl cooperates to rotate said member in a step by step manner, a swingable gravity impelled arm having a notch and a guard pawl cooperating therewith to be encountered by the teeth of said rotary member to control its rotation, said guard I pawl consisting of a pivoted, gravity controlled plate having a nose and a lower edge portion which at times rests upon one tooth of said rotary member to position said nose in the path of the advance of the next tooth of said rotary member, means carried by said striker bar to raise and release said swingable arm, and means to intermittently raise and release said striker bar to cause the striker pawl carried thereby to strike against successive individual teeth of said rotary member and thereby rotationally advance said member the distance between adjacent teeth thereof, such advance movement being performed with sufficient speed to cause the aforementioned guard pawl to be encountered by the next tooth of the rotatable member before gravity has time to raise its nose out of the path of such tooth.

CLARENCE C. GILMAN. 

